Tag: Alfama

The Pedros, (Alves and Loureiro), after the success of their evening workshop in Torres Vedras, will bring the same experience to the capital, leading a night sketching workshop in the historical old town of Lisboa, at the Portas do Sol vantage point, on December 9th (Saturday) 5pm. We’re going to capture the evening beauty of the lovely Lisboa on our sketchbooks., sharing techniques, tricks of the trade and experiences of sketching in the night.

I stole the title of this post from Alejandra herself. It was something she said on her facebook after returning from her trip, that I never had thought about, but that is probably in the minds of many people that aren’t from Lisboa but live, have lived, or visit it, even if for a short period. I have adopted the city of Lisboa as well, but had never fully realized it.

The past Saturday, in the morning, had a group of Portuguese Urban Sketchers gathered in Alfama to spend the day sketching and mingling together with Evelyn and Alejandra, the two Parisian sketchers touring Lisboa.

We visited the top and the bottom of Alfama – the vantage point of Portas do Sol and the once-by-the-river Largo do Chafariz de Dentro. Between early and late morning, the group split and meandered around the narrow alleys and odd smells of medieval Lisboa.

Things got smoky during lunchtime, as the wind was blowing all the smoke from the fat of the grilled sardines in our direction, in the patio-restaurant where the group had lunch. It was a joy having those sardines, but it was an even greater joy to breathe fresh air as soon as we were finished!

Taberna do Vilarinho is a restaurant at the base of the castle hill in Lisboa. The menu is traditional portuguese cuisine with a focus on special delicacies. This means for starters, you’ll be recommended some juicy cabeça de xára (slices of slow-cooked pig’s head), somewhat similar to galantine. If you’re in for a safe choice, the bacalhau à brás (cod-fish with scrambled egg and straw-cut fries) much enjoyed in Spain, or the borrego com batata doce (roasted lamb sided with sweet potato). But if you keep on with the staff’s recommendation, you’ll go for the samos de bacalhau com grão (cod-fish swim bladder stew with chickpeas), an organ used by many fish to control depth. It’s kinda spongy and squishy and all the fluids add to the thickness of the sauce, but you can really taste the cod-fish flavours there. Would eat again!

The manager was a friend of ours, so we got to hang out in the small cosy restaurant after the doors were shut. Bottles of wine were popped open and leftover deserts were served. That’s when we got the chance to taste pêra bêbeda (drunken pear – a pear dipped in port wine), the delicious and sugary tarte de ameixa (plum pie) and the surprisingly refreshing ananás de coentrada (pineapple with coriander).

More people arrived, friends, and friends of friends. All of a sudden, there was a party! The cell phone connected to spotify went around as everyone added a song to the playlist in some sort of “who plays the coolest song” competition. The accuracy of the sketching quickly waned as it was getting in the way of more dancing and drinking. As the evening drew to a close and everyone started to get the munchies, the chef, who also doubles as a jazz drummer, discreetly slid to the kitchen and brought back plates with heavily spiced raw tuna slices. Not quite sashimi, actually much better!